Lazarus, come out

So they took away the stone. And Jesus looked upward and said, “Father, I thank you for having heard me. 42 I knew that you always hear me, but I have said this for the sake of the crowd standing here, so that they may believe that you sent me.” 43 When he had said this, he cried with a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out!” 44 The dead man came out, his hands and feet bound with strips of cloth, and his face wrapped in a cloth. Jesus said to them, “Unbind him, and let him go.”
John 11:41-44

One of the things that strikes me in this story of Jesus raising Lazarus is how Jesus calls the bystanders into service.  “Unbind him, and let him go,” says Jesus.  He calls those standing around to help Lazarus be freed from the clothes of death that hold him in bondage.  It’s a powerful image, I think. The whole story, 11:1-44, invites us to identify ourselves in the story --- are we Mary and Martha, in the throes of grief with our prayers of anguish, “Lord, if only you had been here”  Or maybe we are Lazarus, feeling like we are being held in bondage for one reason or another:  a dead-end, unsatisfying job;  worry about a recent diagnosis or living with a debilitating disease or illness; a financial debt that seems insurmountable; or whatever weighs us down and holds us back from living the life God intended for us.  It can feel like spiritual death.  

And then the bystanders - maybe we are standing around just watching others do all the work, and we remain uninvested and uncommitted.  Here, Jesus calls those bystanders into action.  Jesus has work for us to do, and he calls us into his service. To whom might Jesus be sending you?   What good news might you be able to share with someone?  Who needs to hear the story of Jesus and his love?  Who needs to hear that there is someone who cares for them?  Where might God’s grace and mercy make a difference in someone’s life?  Listen for God’s guidance and go where God is leading you.

One more thought on this passage --- in my first religion class in college, I was introduced to the writings of preacher Frederick Buechner.  His description of Lazarus is one that I will never forget, as it beautifully describes the scene of Lazarus being set free.

"Recent interviews with people who have been resuscitated after being pronounced clinically dead reveal that, after the glimpse they evidently all of them get of a figure of light waiting for them on the other side, they are very reluctant to be brought back again to this one. On the other hand, when Lazarus opened his eyes to see the figure of Jesus standing there in the daylight beside him, he couldn't for the life of him tell which side he was on.” Peculiar Treasures by Frederick Buechner